Café Calva has enjoyed immense popularity in French farms, cabarets and bistros since the 1880s. On the counters of Parisian bistros, cider brandy or Calvados was most often poured directly into the coffee. In working-class housing estates, until the end of the 1970s, unless specified when ordering, coffees were systematically watered down, a ritual that has since tended to disappear.
However, nothing predisposed coffee to be married to Calvados, because coffee, discovered in the land of Islam, had spread in a world where alcohol was fought against. Its consumption was recommended as an alternative to regular consumption of intoxicating drinks. In the 19th century, the use of coffee became widespread in Normandy and throughout the world. The Normans discovered an invigorating way of combining the two; the calva coffee, a new drinking ritual was born!
The marriage of coffee and Calvados is an authentic love match that was celebrated well beyond Normandy and for decades on the bar tables in the early hours of the morning until the after-dinner coffee. Great novelists such as Erich Maria Remarque and Georges Simenon honoured it in their works. The quality of the brandy and the coffee was not always the best, however, and Café Calva gradually disappeared from the bars in the 1980s. Today, when Calvados has regained all its credentials and the consumption of quality coffee has never been so high, Café-Calva is enjoying a revival!
The map of the café-calva operation by Christian Drouin lists 21 partner establishments in Paris.
"We have always liked to value the traditions of calvados. Calva coffee is known throughout the world as a historic marriage. It combines the strength and bitterness of coffee with that of calvados. As more and more establishments are creatively reworking this combination, we wanted to support their work. In order to highlight the renaissance of café-calva in Paris, a city that is emblematic of French culinary traditions, we worked with 21 establishments from different backgrounds to create the first café-calva menu. This menu is a proposal for a journey through the bars of Parisian palaces, bistronomy, the traditions of French gastronomy and the world of cocktail bars, with the creativity explored around the association of coffee and calvados as a common thread.
Guillaume Drouin, President of calvados Christian Drouin
Today there are many ways to enjoy coffee-calva.
Calva-Express
Matthew Long
25ml Espresso
20ml Coffee liqueur
10ml sugar syrup
Method: in the Shaker
Glassware: Cup
Topping: 3 coffee beans
Café Calva Brûlerie de Belleville
In collaboration with the brulerie de Belleville, and in search of a perfect balance, 30 ml of Château de Belleville coffee and 10 ml of Christian Drouin's La Blanche, incorporated in the spoon under the foam.
Coffee Negroni - Matthew Long
20ml Calvados Christian Drouin Selection
30ml filter coffee
30ml Dolin Red
20ml Campari
method: by the glass
Glassware: Rocks
garnish: orange peel
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